The invention relates to a drag lever for actuating a gas exchange valve of an internal combustion engine. The drag lever has an oblong lever body formed of sheet metal material, wherein the lever body has a bottom and side walls integrally formed onto the bottom on both sides at an angle of about 90°. A first end section of the lever body includes a joint socket that is formed into the bottom between the side walls. The joint socket serves for the pivotally moveable support of the drag lever on a joint head which is mounted stationary in the internal combustion engine. A middle section of the lever body is provided with a cam gripping surface, and a second end section of the lever body has a contact surface extending on the bottom, wherein the contact surface serves for actuating the gas exchange valve. The lever body is dimensioned so as to have essentially the same width in a cross section through the joint socket and in a cross section through the middle section.
In the area of the first end section, the width of such a drag lever is determined by the size of the joint socket and the wall thickness thereof, and the wall thickness of the side walls extending at a more or less large distance from the joint socket. The size of the joint socket, in turn, results from the diameter of the usually spherical joint head of a support element and in the following is described as the nominal diameter of the joint socket.
Drag levers of this type are known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,641 and EP 1 157 193 B1. In comparison to the drag lever disclosed in DE 198 10 462 A1, whose lever body has a significantly greater width in the area of the joint socket, the drag lever disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,641 already has a significantly smaller width by locally reducing the wall thickness of the side walls in the area of the joint socket extending therebetween.
In relation to the nominal diameter of the joint socket, the drag lever disclosed in EP 1 157 193 B1, has an extremely narrow structural width. This is apparent from FIGS. 3, 4, and 7 of this document in which the joint socket and side walls appear as if they are merging into each other. However, this document does not provide any concrete statements concerning a deformation process which would facilitate such a configuration of the lever body in the area of the joint socket.
Tests performed by the applicant of drag levers having a narrow structural width with side walls spaced closely from the joint socket have shown that the locally high degree of deformation at the connecting points of the bottom part and the side walls may lead to reduced material thicknesses of the joint socket which may at times in turn lead to cracks and squeeze folds. These structural faults, which, as a rule, are not apparent during the manufacture of the lever body and can only be detected safely with complicated destructive quality controls, can significantly impair the fatigue strength of the drag lever. As is well known, in the worst case, a premature failure of the drag lever due to breakage may lead to a complete destruction of the internal combustion engine. The lever widths B which can be practically achieved with the deformation processes of the lever body used today are at/east:B=D+1.2*2S 
D=nominal diameter of the joint socket
S=wall thickness of the lever body
The factor 1.2 is obtained from the distance between the joint socket and a side wall required for a crack-free deformation.